CC vs UMD: The battle begins

Note: Subjective blog.


Colorado College has spent this past season wondering what has happened. After last years devastating loss to Michigan in the NCAA tournament, many players were optimistic about this years team. Joe Howe even said "2012 national championship: The journey has already begun" the day after the loss.

Things have not gone the Tigers way this season for a variety of reasons. No one outside of the tigers can really say why this is happened. Sometimes it just does. Look at Alex Kangas for Minnesota. Probably one of the better college goalies of his time. During his tenure the Gophers only made the tournament once, during his freshman year.

So it's usually not the level of talent that a team has, but their overall focus that drives the national championship bid.

Colorado College has a very large test this weekend: Minnesota-Duluth. Last season, CC played a very good series against the bulldogs in Colorado Springs. That was well before anyone knew that the bulldogs had N.C. aspirations.

This season, the bulldogs have thrived on their offense and defense. I still don't understand how a team with average goaltending can be as high as they are.

Why will this series mean so much to the tigers?
If CC can sweep, they stand a very good chance of moving into the top 16. As the saying goes "the higher you are, the farther you fall". In this instance, that saying speaks volumes. The tigers need something big out of their offense. In my biased opinion, Thorny is far better than Reiter. That should be a story by itself going into this weekend. The bulldogs have not dealt with quality goaltending in weeks. This will honestly be a test for them.

I am also mystified by what the tigers have done on defense this year. Many players who I thought should have been on the ice, have been benched. I don't yet know the lines for this weekend, but I think Coach Owens has quite a bit of adjusting to do. Our defense is improving but is not fully capable of handling this offense without some help. If the defense can do their part, this game can stay close. I don't expect the tiger defense to match up well against the bulldog offense. But I do expect the 5 skaters and 1 goalie for the tigers to make the normal opportunities for the bulldogs become luxury.

CC's offense scares me a bit in this series. During the bemidi series, the tigers didn't produce much. That speaks volumes for how much of a leader Nick Dineen is. During the second game against Omaha, CC brought the power during the second period. It's the first period that is troublesome. If CC only manages 3 shots during the first period of the game, thorny is going to be a very tired student athlete at the end of this game. Forget about studying friday night, he can make his plans to be sleeping.

I predicted in an earlier blog that CC has a chance for 1 win and will likely face a loss. I still stick with the series split. CC has not been known for making adjustments well from game 1 to game 2. Most of the time that CC wins, they do it on a friday. The other team makes great adjustments and comes back to win on Saturday. I believe that the focus of this weekend will have to be on Friday night first. Make the adjustment from period to period. Make this game difficult.
If CC can do that, I think they can win Friday nights contest.

Saturday will be a different story. What won you the game on Friday, could turn to be your weakness on Saturday. Once Duluth figures out what CC did the first night, they will correct themselves as every other team has and put a great showing on Saturday night. The question then becomes: What does CC have to adjust for during their Saturday night game.

My answer is this: I do not believe that CC's offense is going to get any better than it already is. The injury bug has hit this team hard. Keeping the offense the same and possible moving the wings around could help. They key will be to adjust the defense. Duluth will likely come with a very fast attack during the saturday game. Putting in players who can handle that will be key.

As before, My prediction:
Friday win, Saturday loss.

Friday: 4-3 win or a 1 goal game.

Saturday: 6-3 loss.

The tough losses

Note: Subjective blog, do not read any further if that bothers you..........



Colorado College hockey has been around for many years. In fact, the record books indicate that of the three major teams in Colorado....CC,DU and AF, CC has been around the longest. That's a good thing, as tradition is a multiple of time.

CC hockey has been a staple to the Colorado Springs area. The arena is usually at 80% or better capacity, and according to the jumbotron is the top attended winter sport in the state.

CC fans are loyal, as they should be. The great thing about the relationship between the school and the community is that they are almost one. Being from Wisconsin, I know a thing or two about watching big time hockey. The badgers and the gophers were always on t.v. But they never offered anything like CC does. In Colorado Springs, fans are able to skate with their favorite players twice a year in a program called "skate with the tigers". Nothing similar to this is found at any other university that I am aware of.

So when CC loses like they did tonight, fans tend to get a bit grumpy about others talking negatively about their team. It's almost like a direct insult. But even past that point, one has to look at the reality of the situation: where is CC this season?

I don't know if anyone knows that answer. The only thing that has been for sure is who is the captain of this team, as far as inside the actual team goes. The goaltending has been unreliable. The season started with the same goalie for the past two years, transitioned into a platoon and now features the back up goalie as the starter from last year.
Lineup changes in front of the goalie have left fans scratching their heads. The defense started week while the offense started strong. Then a mid season shift happened and things started to go the other direction. Then line up changes like tonight happen and I just wonder if Scott Owens is not content with this years team.

No doubt, it's tough being a coach. Especially one with such passionate fans as CC. The point here is that Colorado College hockey has to make some serious rebounds to get anywhere. They came out strong in their Friday night series against UNO. I predicted a second game loss or tie due to an adjustment by both teams. I was unfortunately right. Coach Blais altered his netminder and gave his team a talking that they really needed.

CC came out in the second game and looked absolutely flat offensively. Defensively, the team showed no signs of life and players came as they pleased towards Josh Thorimbert. Luckily, Thorny only let in 1 goal during the first. That was obviously enough to get the blood flowing in Coach Owens veins to pump this team up.
The second period featured an offensive explosion and a more up tempo defense. Then the third period came and the game returned to 1st period style. The offense lagged, the defense lagged and thorny just couldn't do the shots by himself.

It's these kinds of losses that put this Tiger team at a disadvantage. Their backs are against the wall nationally. CC needs life support to stay alive in the pairwise. As a tiger fan, I can only look past that ranking at this point and believe that Coach Owens can use these next four games as motivation for the WCHA playoffs. Last season was a truly remarkable one. CC finished the regular season at Wisconsin and brought the badgers back to the world arena for a playoff feast. To get a home series this year, CC will likely have to do the same against michigan tech during the final regular season game and continue that into the playoffs.

The tigers can win it. They just need a solid team effort.

CC vs. UNO: what to expect

Good news, according to Brian Gomez of the Colorado Springs Gazette, Josh Thorimbert will likely start this weekend.
Bad news: Trying to think of something......nothing coming to mind......

In my past couple of blogs I have given brief details of what goalies are going through in games. I have been critical of our goaltenders and of our coaching staff. Today I am going to take things on the players and what they must do in order to get the "W".


Lines:

Offense:
This will be key for the Tigers. When CC went into Omaha last fall they had a rolling offense putting up stats somewhere in the 2nd in the nation category. Things have slipped a bit since then. Scoring 2 goals against a slow Bemidji team and not putting up much of anything against Denver or Minnesota the weeks prior, really points to where this offense is headed.

This time last year, the talk was getting Jaden back. This year the talk is again, getting Jaden back. For different reasons of course. Let's face it, Jaden has not been himself this year. Many things could be at stake here, such as the passing of his sister or just a sophomore slump. It's hard to tell. Jaden has done well, not to take any credit from him. One would just expect that last seasons showcase performance minus 15 games would make a full season this year the ride of the World Arena's life. Hasn't been the case.

Rylan has been a HUGE factor this year. Even with Jaden gone, he still has been taking feeds from others and scoring big. For his first two years, Rylan really didn't do this much. Last year he became the other Schwartz brother. This year he's come out of his shell. Something tells me that if he does stay at CC for next season, this could be the non-NHL draft pick to watch out for.

David Civatrese: I know, he's on defense. However his work during last year's tourney brought him many praises. He still has been the same old defender over the regular season as in years before. Hasn't really put up the goals that people thought he could after the BC game.

Will he or won't he? William Rapuzzi has always been a mid level star for CC. He's been a backbone for pissing the other teams off. He's always been good playing against Alaska. I guess I was just hoping for a break out year for this kid. Possibly a hobey nomination. Maybe his off season surgery was just too much to recover from.

Defense:
This is an area that I am excited about. UNO poses no serious threats to CC's game plan. Then again neither did Bemidi, and CC got swept back to Colorado in that series. I don't expect CC's defense to fail like they did in Omaha, but one's got to think that with the pressure this side of the puck has been getting that something is going to let loose. I feel fairly confident that the Tiger D can show up during this series.


Goaltending:

I'm a little worried about this one. The team and the fans will know really quick if thorny still has concussion symptoms. He'll likely let everything his way come in. Reeling from a bad weekend in net, Joe Howe has some serious thinking to do. He's got a year left at CC and coming back to the starting position with one season to go is really hard. I think Joe might have lost his starting position for good. At best he can expect to be platooning next fall should Thorny show any regression. After Howe's great performance last year, I can firmly say that anything is possible.

Overall:
I picked CC to get a win and a tie out of this with thorny in net, well before his concussion I might add. Not a whole lot has changed since then. A couple of losses due to injuries but nothing so significant that another tiger couldn't pick up.

I still think CC has a guaranteed shot at winning one of these games. I think all things remaining equal that if CC wins the first game and Omaha adjusts for the second one that the defense and goaltending can remain strong for the tigers. I do believe they can handle an extended period of time without much offense. However, not having a good offense is not good either.

I still think CC will lose or tie the second game. If they win, I'll be happy. The only way they will do that though is if this offense grows up and plays hard on the saturday game....when really, only 7,000 people will be watching....


THANKS FOR READING!

Thinking like a goalie......

This season has been especially hard on Colorado College. A rough defense to start the season and awkward goal-tending to say the least. Now the side flips and the defense gets better while the offense bare bones.

So really, what is a goalie thinking? How is it that a goalie is so much different than the rest of the players?

Well it's simple: as much as people want to say hockey is a team sport, it's not. It's about the 5 guys in front of the goalie working to do their job while the goalie try's to isolate himself on an island and disconnect with everyone.
Emotions drive a goalie. I would venture to say that during my time of playing competitive hockey, 20% of the game was physical and 80% was mental. It's incredibly tough to be a goalie, both financially and actually. When a goalie gets the chance to separate himself from the rest of the team, he is free to do his job. When he starts thinking about the players and being angry at what they did or didn't do, he loses his focus and is no longer a valuable asset in net.

So why is it that I say that hockey is not a team sport? To answer this best, being a goalie is like being on a different team. When you walk into the locker room, you say hello to everyone and go to your stall or locker. At that very moment, you shut out the world. You can't hear anyone or even see them. Yes you can hear noise and you can see people, but they are no longer anything you know. This is the emotional side of the game. This is where you must be strong. You put your helmet on and begin to think about what your coaches have taught you in the past week. You envision the crease, where you are going to stand and how you will defend against those difficult shots. Everything you know and believe about hockey is now your number one goal.

Then you get on the ice and all of a sudden, the game takes a turn. You again cannot see or hear anyone. The crowd is not there. Only some players and this obviously dark black thing. During the course of the game, you stare at this black thing which we will refer to as a puck. In your zen state of mind, you are relaxed and the only thing you do is watch how that puck will move. You see it come off of the stick and you follow it into your glove. You see a player coming at you with the puck and you try to divert it. But then, at some key moment in the game, the puck goes behind you. You begin to hear things. If you are away, you hear the goal horn. You see a group of guys wearing different jerseys than yours piling up next to one another with smiles on their face. You then see a group of guys with the same jersey you have, looking down at the ice. Looking back at you. They begin to talk to you and you begin to hear them. They offer condolences and tell you that it's their fault.

All of a sudden, your grip on the mental game starts to decline. You start to lose sight of the puck and you begin to see all of the players. When the puck gets close you focus your body on the other players and not the puck. When you continue to let more goals in you begin to get angry at your team mates. They are no longer offering you condolences. They just skate away after each following goal.

Now you've lost it. You no longer have control of the game. You see the players. If they are any good, they can move you where they want with their skills and score on you. Then comes the dreaded left hand of the coach. He sticks it up in the air and all of a sudden another goalie with the same color jersey as you begins to skate out. You don't want to leave the net, but you know it's time. Your out. Only to consider what might have been.

It seems like a nightmare, but this is what goalies go through every game...save for the last part unless they win. I can only imagine that Joe is feeling this same thing. From a goalies stand point, each player can have three dimensions. These three dimensions are what separates those who you can stop when you begin to lose the mental edge and those who will take you to the cleaners when you slouch.

Since this is on a CC fan forum, I will relate to our players with the occasional outside reference to other teams.

As I said, every player can have up to three dimensions as far as a goalie is concerned. This is taught in goalie schools all over the place.
Most beer league players barely have this first dimension, so this will help you understand:

Dimension 1: Stick Handling. At it's basic form, this is required for any type of competitive hockey. Generally players without this get cut right away from high school teams. Players who only have this don't go any farther than high school, because this is the basic building block that every college and NHL level player is expected to have.

Dimension 2: Skating. This adds another layer to the complex set of skills a player must have to even survive at the college level. No player in college level can get by without this. It's a key characteristic, but it's not one that requires mastery.

Dimension 3: Vision. This is one of those skills that comes over time. The more exposure to higher level players a skater has, the more vision they will get.

So here is why I made these for you:
No skater in college hockey has less than two of these. Very few possess all three. Those that do possess all three are found in the National Hockey League.

So who has what?
Some of you might know who Nathan Condon is. He's a player for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. He's got excellent stick handling and great skating. His vision is not that great. This can be seen perfectly when he get's loose at the blue line for multiple break aways.

Then there is Jaden Schwartz. Rarely do players come out of "the box" with his skill set. He possesses all three of these. Read further as to what this will do to a goalie.

A great player on the CC roster with stick handling and vision is Alexander Krushelnyski. See his OT shootout goal against denver. He came and and looked at the lower left side of the net to unseat the goalie and then put the puck on the right side. Complete fake out.

So what do these players do to a goalie, especially when the goalie is headed downhill?
The answer:
At the college level, a goalie must be able to do more than just stare at the puck. The goalie must be able to read the tilt of the stick, the speed of the player and the angle that they are skating at.
Missing any one of these will result in a goal against depending on who you are playing against.

For instance: When playing a guy like Jaden, one must be able to read his stick, his eyes and where he is transferring weight to on his skate. Jaden can tilt his stick to make it look like he's going to roof it. His skates may make him look like he's going straight which would mean that he's going over your shoulder. But if you don't see his eyes, he'll burn you. Jaden can make 2 out of 3 of these traits look fake and score on you with the one you forgot. Luckily for most college goalies, not many Jadens exist.

Playing other skaters is easier. Take Rylan Schwartz for example. A pure sniper at his best. Rylan doesn't have the skating that his brother does. He has the stick handling and the vision to use. This means that a goalie must not only read the stick but also look at the eyes of Rylan in order to predict where he will shoot. Although I am making this sound easy, if you do both of these, Rylan will not score on you without a pass to someone else.

This is what Joe Howe is up against every week. I have been critical of him lately, I know. He's far better than I am, but I think he's losing his mental edge in the game. If he figures out what he's up against quicker, he will have a better chance of stopping these critical skaters when he begins to lose control of the game.

The adjustment bureau: CC vs. UNO

It's Monday night and the tigers have the day off. Somehow they earned that after a chilling sweep away against a far inferior opponent.

I won't bludgeon that horse anymore. I'll move on to this weekends match up against the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Last fall, CC had the wild chance to play Omaha. Even then, the team struggled and it seemed that making adjustments was not in the cards for Scott Owens. At the time the defense was lagging and our previous goaltender of two years had fallen victim to becoming part of a goal tending tandem. During the weekend the tigers picked up a split. Considering it was an away game, that's pretty dandy.

The first night, CC lost 7-5. I really bad night in net for joe as he let in 7 goals on 35 shots. The next night, Thorimbert stepped in and held up the net for 45 saves and only two goals. Offense was the key at the time, as it seemed to be the only consistent thing. Goaltending was difficult to predict at best and the defense was floundering.

Fast forward a couple of months and the situation is quite precarious. Josh has established himself as the new #1 guy and Joe continues to disintegrate. The offense has cooled and become unreliable while the weeks of learning has paid off for the defense.
One could be quite excited for this game, but the problem is that our #1 guy in net is hurt. He likely won't see action on friday judging from the nature of his injury. Which means the team will need to rely on Joe Howe to get the job done. Not an easy task for a guy who's 5-7-1 on the season including a loss to anchorage and a sweep against bemidji. To be fair, Joe also participated in the home sweep against bemidji as well.
So here lies the task: How does Scott Owens adjust his team for this game. Well based on what I've seen during the past three months of this season, Owens doesn't do anything except give Jaden and Rylan more time. It seems that whenever the team is doing bad, that duo get's more time than Chris Pronger(when he's not injured).
How does Scott adjust Joe to get back in the game? Simple: he doesn't. Joe has to do that himself. He's got the ability to do it as we saw him in relief against Denver.

In my opinion, here is what has to be done...INEVITABLY!
1. Split the Schwartz brothers up. Jaden needs to come off the first line. It's not that Jaden cannot handle the first line, it's that Jaden could go anywhere and make that line better. Rylan on the other hand can score until the cows come home. If Owens splits these guys up, the team will have two solid lines.

2. Put Harstad and Stoykwich on the same line. They are both draftee's and they both have the ability to do good things. I believe that these two can provide speed for an entire shift.

3. Put Bidwill and Guentzel together. These guys are a good tandem. They work well together and Bidwill has a hard work ethic.

4. If thorny cannot play, get lockwood ready. Joe needs some time off away from the game. He has been to every road game since he came to CC. He should get a night on the bench behind Lockwood. Better yet, when thorny comes back, don't dress howe. Get his mind off the game for some time. He needs it. He needs perspective. Because he's all CC has right now and we've got to get him better.

CC swept out of Bemidji, Likely NCAA auto-berth

And just like that, CC has fallen victim the same way Bemidji did back in October. Both have swept each other this season on home ice. The difference is that Bemidji was expected to be swept in Colorado Springs. CC was not expected to be swept in Bemidji.

This late in the season, with the pairwise being what they are, CC has almost automatically ejected themselves from contention in the NCAA playoffs without a bracket buster. I won't say they are out, but they have some work to do.

Starting by winning every game. CC has 6 games left which leaves them needing 5 to hit the 20 win mark, an essential formula to get into the tourney. To put things into perspective, last season Yale and Boston College both topped the 30 win mark to get into their respective places.

I have been predicting that CC would only hope to go far by winning at the Final Five. So I've come up with a bit of a stat sheet on the chances that CC wins the next 6.

Nebraska-Omaha:
I don't see much competition from the Mavs, but then again I didn't see much from Bemidji either. If thorny is still out, I have a sneaky suspicion that the entire nation might see Joe tank on national television. I really don't know where howe has gone or what has started this funk, but if any time were perfect to redeem yourself it would be on national television. The last time Joe played on CBS, CC won on an overtime shootout goal.
My prediction: Win and a tie.

Minnesota-Duluth:
This is the series that will be most difficult for the tigers. Duluth will gladly staple gun any team to the boards and run up the scoreboard. If CC doesn't play as a team, this one is completely out of reach.
Although I'm not a fan of resting players for the big games, I think some key players with minor injuries should sit out the Omaha game in preparation for this one. CC needs to be at 100%.
My prediction: Two way: If CC plays as a team and stays away from the boards, A win and a loss. If CC shows up like they did against Bemidji: Goals against for the season will go up by at least 10.

Michigan Tech:
CC will need to look in the mirror when playing this game, because one of a couple things will happen: both teams are on again off again. When either of these teams are on, they will show no mercy in downing an opponent and making them feel like crap. See Mich. Tech against Duluth and CC against Denver. When they are off, they are off. See CC vs Bemidji and Mich Tech vs. Minnesota State.
My prediction: Michigan Tech comes into the world arena for the last time and gets four points sending the tigers to michigan tech the following week for the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

Who can win it all from the WCHA?

I wrote an article last week and kept it pretty clean so that my friends on the CC page would not get too made. I'll do the same today except that I will talk a little bit about the chances of the WCHA going back to the national championship and win it all.

As always, this post is subjective and I tend to lean towards the skilled teams.


Who can win it, and why:

1. Minnesota-Duluth: Honestly, Duluth caught me off guard last season making it as far as they did. I believe their first round loss in the WCHA Final Five was to Bemidji State. Kind of a rough way to start the post season and that really turned my attention away from them. This season is different. I don't see the super power team that I did last year. This does not appear to be the talent loaded team like last year, but a team that knows each other. I've always told my friends that a team with heart will always beat a team with skill. I believe this year's Duluth team is pure heart. However, I don't think Duluth will win it all. A giant hole in the defense left by Faulk is going to make the difference when the tournament comes a knockin'. My prediction: Second round loss in the NCAA tournament.

2. Minnesota: It appears that the type of team that lived in Duluth last year, now resides in Minneapolis. This team is 4 players short of an NHL team and they have the confidence of an all-star team. Nick Bjugstad has picked up the play and defense has played great. Problem with Minnesota is that they loaded up their beginning schedule with teams like Holy Cross and Sacred Heart. Being the power house that they are, it only seems like they were trying to get a head start on the good rankings. If Patterson can stay hot in net this team can go far. If he clunks out in the tourney, this team is toast. My prediction: Loss in the frozen four.

3. North Dakota: Injuries have plagued this team and made things downright horrible. The second half has proven to be good to the Sioux. If a dominant effort is maintained through the remainder of the season, UND just might make the tourney without having to win the Final Five. My prediction: 1st round lost in NCAA tourney.

4. Colorado College: I enjoy watching CC play. The fire, passion and emotion takes this team far. During the first part of the season, the defense played horrible and CC sunk. Now CC is in the bad position of having to play some good teams down the stretch to keep their tourney hopes alive. I'm not holding my breath for CC, so based on pure performance I don't think they will make the tourney. However, if the team plays like it has into the Final Five with Thorny in net I think this team is the 2012 bracket buster. My prediction with a bracket buster: Frozen four loss.

5. Nebraska-Omaha: Unless this team plans on winning some serious games in the next two months don't expect to see them in late March. My prediction: WCHA Playoff Loss.

6. Denver: I'm at odds with this team. Not because I am a CC fan but because Sam Brittain is returning. Sam is a good goalie but the team has made it's fortunes this season off of the work of Juho Olkinura. I just don't think that Sam will be able to gel with this team enough to make it far into the post season. Surely Juho is not capable of a national championship run. My prediction: WCHA Final Five Championship loss to CC.

7. Michigan Tech: Another team that will not go anywhere without a bracket buster. They played well in the beginning of the season and then lost some steam. They are not in an automatic pick for the tourney as it stands and I don't see them doing well in the WCHA playoffs. My prediction: Loss in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

8. Bemidji State: Bemidji just doesn't have it this year. Not a contender and nobody notable who can carry this team past the first line. My prediction: WCHA first round loss.

9. St. Cloud State: SCSU has done well this season in the second half. Taking out Minnesota for a game and sweeping UND. I think SCSU can get into the Final Five but that's about it. My prediction: Loss in the Final Five.

10. Minnesota State: My prediction: First round WCHA playoff loss

11. Wisconsin: Nothing note worthy about this team. They need to grow and reload before they can get past the horrors of this season. My prediction: First Round playoff loss.

12. Alaska Anchorage: Really tough year for these guys. My prediction: first round wcha playoff loss.

Results:

Final Five Participants
UMD
UM
CC
DU
UND
SCSU

Teams from WCHA in Tourney:
CC
UM
UMD

All other things held equal, National Championship game:
Boston University Vs. Minnesota

WCHA GOALIES: THE BEST OF THE BEST

About two months ago I wrote a blog about the Colorado College goaltending situation. Many people praised it as truth in action and a call for Owens to do something. Just about everyone in my CC facebook group called me some obnoxious name. I was even called, yes, a DU fan.

I'm not a DU fan, but I love watching goalies play. That's because I play goalie so I understand the position better than I do any of other other five spots. While two months ago I was heckling Owens for his defensive problems, I now praise him for figuring it out amidst a goaltending problem.

So without further ado, my "subjective" views of the WCHA goalies:
(Note: With the exception of a couple of teams, I am only including starting goalies)

My rankings:
1: Aaron Dell, UND: This guy is my favorite goalie in the NCAA. At 6 feet tall, Dell fills in as the "average" height for a goalie. College net minders have a range from 5'7 all the way to 6'6. Getting in anywhere in the 6's almost guarantee's success. Aside from Dell's height, I have quite a bit to like about him. First his stance. Dell plays a shallow stance on the dead angles and widens up out front. This is common of a goalie who lacks speed to go post to post when a guy like Nick Bjugstad or Jaden Schwartz is waiting on the other side. But the thing is, Dell carries speed..and a lot of it. Dell will usually wait on the side for the wrap around and bait the player into thinking they have a centering pass option. Then he will explode to the puck and pick off any attempt at a centering shot. His lateral movements are great and trying to score on this guy down low is almost impossible. Which is why his shallow upright stance presents a problem for anyone thinking about roofing for the peanut butter. A so-so team in front of him has UND as a middle of the pack team this year. If things were different, UND might be ranked #1 right now.

2: Sam Brittain, DU: At 6'3 I have a hard time not picking Sam over Aaron Dell. He explodes the same way Aaron Dell does but has the extra 3 inches of height to cover his posts. As a goalie, you have to use whatever means is available to get the save. I'm not a fan of DU because I like CC, but I really enjoy watching Brittain play. Like Dell, he plays with a shallow stance and explodes to the puck....sometimes. Brittain has tremendous speed, but spectators rarely get to see it because this guy is always in position. Instead of making flex saves or doing t-pushes to get from side to side, brittain shuffles. This is a sign that a player is at or near in line with the puck. I would rank Brittain tied with Dell, but he doesn't hold the same speed as Dell so this is why he get's #2.

3: Kent Patterson, UM: At 6'1, Patterson again makes a strong case for a good goalie. The difference between the first two goalies and the remaining ones is a landslide. Patterson is not my favorite goalie to watch by any means. In fact I doubt I would rank him this high if it wasn't for the fact that Minnesota is like 4 players away from a fully drafted team...including Patterson. I would say that Patterson's best area's belong to his puck tracking. Seeing a puck from the blue line is not a hard task, unless your name is Adam Murray. Seeing the puck through traffic can get difficult, but again positioning will save you on that. Seeing the puck from five feet away with a heavy handed sniper is a difficult task that separates the elite from the rest. Patterson's glove reaction time is second to none. He's not a body player like Howe, Faulkner and Reiter, but he puts himself in position to make body saves. A very good attribute. Ultimately Patterson starts the decline of netminders who start lacking. If anyone had the chance to watch CC play Minnesota you may have caught Dineen's goal against patty. Patterson left his five hole wide open and Dineen snagged him going from left to right. As a low playing shot, Patterson should have pushed off and followed Dineen with a closing-five hole slide. He didn't because he lacks the low shot play.

4. Dan Bakala, BSU: Dan is below the 6'0 mark which starts the disadvantage. It's not all bad news being shorter than six feet, the work required to make a casual save is more though. Dan is a puck reader like Patterson. He's also a positional guy like Brittain which makes him ever more dangerous. His downside is the rebounds he kicks out. If he was playing on a team like Minnesota or Minnesota-Duluth, these problems would disappear. But he's not. He's playing for bemidji where the goalie is not the last line, it's the defense.

5. Josh Thorimbert, CC: Another guy shorter than 6 feet, thorny has the slight disadvantage in this area. The defense in front of him has been non-existent for most of the year yet he has played strong. Thorny is not a guy who opens his stance much or applies a heavy amount of speed. He's a puck reader and a stand up style goalie. This is by no means a disadvantage, it just is the way thorny plays. Breakaways and odd man rushes are Thorny's specialty. He can handle just about anything coming his way. If not for a little bit more speed, thorny would be 1,2, or 3 on this list.

6. Mike Lee, SCSU: Mike is a guy who stands at 6'1 and really looks quite a bit bigger than that in the net. He plays a very wide stance and covers most of the net by playing in one spot. He's got the speed to come out of a wide stance and make critical saves. One of the marquee traits of a wide stance player is their flexibility. This is what mike lacks. It's because of this that he had troubles at the end of last year and prior to his injury this year. Maybe some flexibility training will improve his odds that he won't be the next guy to be cut when he show's up for his AHL assignment next fall.

7. Juho Olkinuora, DU: The fall of Sam Brittain and Adam Murray certainly left a big hole to fill in the DU net. Enter Juho. I don't understand Juho fully because he only has one season under his belt. From what I have seen, he looks like a set player. These are the garden variety goalies who come in their freshman year expecting the plays to be as slow as they were in high school or juniors. The wake up call comes quickly. Juho has broken out of that shell a bit, but he certainly showed that his comfort is a solid read and a hold when Alexander Krushelnyski came down on a penalty shot last December. He's got some work to do if he ever wants to be higher than the third goalie within DU's goalie corps.

8. Joe Howe, CC: Joe came into this season as the #1 goalie from the past two seasons. Joe has worked hard each off season to make himself better. His appearance in last years NCAA tournament against Michigan was great. Although he lost, he made some crucial saves that kept CC in the game. Joe plays a different type of game than any other goalie in the WCHA thus far. I grew up playing pond hockey and I see the image of Joe's style from the ponds in Minnesota. Ponds are much rougher and harder to slide on when playing goalie. The pads stick to the ice and often require the goalie to make flex saves or include a heavy dose of power. Joe has both of these. I would say he's the strongest positional goalie in the WCHA. When the puck gets into his zone, he locks on like a missle. He watches the puck for every square inch it moves. But unfortunately, the world arena is not a pond. This makes Joe's incredible power and high flexibility nearly useless. Joe can handle players in his zone, but when the puck comes one on one players tend to deke him into making a flex save and then they roof it on him. Without a stellar defense in hand, this type of tending is difficult to do in the WCHA. Hopefully Joe can rebound from this year and revert to his old self.

9. Kenny Reiter, UMD: Of all the goalies on this list, I dislike reiter the most. For his first two seasons, Reiter split time with his partner Aaron Crandall. Until last year, Crandall had the upper hand. And until last year, the Conolly pair had not developed into a forceful duo. Now that one conolly is gone, reiter still has a stellar defense in front of him. However, to be at this level is no coincidence. Reiter is another puck tracker. He can see all the pucks in his zone and stop them. It's the 1 on 1's and the odd man rushes that ruin his days.

10. John Faulkner, UNO: Justin is a great minder who has lost his thunder this season. Another above six foot tall net minder, Faulkner is an open stance type player similar to Mike Lee. His problem rests with his speed. He has too much of it to control. His C-cuts are often sliding stops and that is never good for a goalie. He reminds me of a raw Richard Bachman. Bachman had all of the fundamentals down that Faulkner seems to be missing.

11. Joel Rumpel, UW: For the pat three years, Wisconsin has been treated by Scott Gudmanson and Brian Bennett. Bennett won the World Juniors in net for team USA and Gudmanson took the badgers all the way to the national championship game. Now the game starts over and a new goalie is in. It's Rumpel. Rumpel is by no way fine tuned. He lacks in many area's and looks quite unrefined. I dare ask what Wisconsin's back up goalie looks like if Rumpel beat him out for the starting job.